Summer Nights
by Trixie Ray
Summary: Hermione, Draco and Blaise work together at Hogwarts and managed to create a friendship. But now it's summer time, which means going to their apartment in Muggle London. Nothing better than mild heat strokes to unite them. Dramionaise - 3-chapter story
1. Chapter 1

**Summer Nights**

**Author: Bea Mendes**

**Pairing: **Hermione Granger x Draco Malfoy / Hermione Granger x Blaise Zabini / Dramionaise

**Genre: **Friendship/Romance

**Rated: K+**

**Summary: **Hermione, Draco and Blaise work together at Hogwarts and managed to create a friendship. But now it's summer time, which means going to their apartment in Muggle London. Nothing better than the threat of heat strokes to unite them.

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter and it's characters are not mine. Don't sue me.

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><p><strong>AN: **I once read the most amazing Dramionaise possibly ever, it's called The Duplex and it's on hiatus :( but I sort of got the idea from there. So, in my story, just imagine the three of them sharing an apartment in Muggle London - this is obviously AU - when they aren't teaching at Hogwarts. You may find Hermione OOC. Hell, you may find all characters a bit OOC.

This has some DH spoilers.

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><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

Part One - friendship cheering up

It had been a really hot summer day and Hermione had stayed home most of it; when she ventured out of her house, the heat and her blood pressure took there toll on her and she almost passed out. She figured it was more prudent to stay home, at least until the weather became nicer.

So, here she was, thrown across the sofa watching TV and with a large bowl containing ice-cream on top of her belly. It was weird if you thought that this was Hermione the Hogwarts' book-warm, best student of her age Granger. Bleh, this was past. After the war, she learned that life was all about small things, enjoying now because tomorrow may not be here. To her it was all about _carpe diem _and _carpe noctem_ now. Or maybe just _carpe_ ice-cream in this specific moment.

She heard a crack coming from behind her, but she didn't even move, just continued to stay lazily on the comfy furniture.

"Granger." The blond appeared in her line of vision only seconds later. "I thought you were going out today." He looked at her.

"Oh, I did... but five minutes later I almost fainted crossing the street." She looked at him with a thoughtful expression and then back at the TV. "So I thought it would be better if I came back and stayed in with the AC. Prudent, you know."

"Wait, you're telling me you've been here for..." he glanced at his watch. "Nine hours? Merlin, Granger the moon is even out already!" He shook his head a little bit. "What did you do all day?"

"Oh, the usual... had a little rendez-vous with my good friends: the flat screen and Häagen-Dazs. Did you know there's a TV show with all these cute vampires? Apparently it's a new 'rock on' wave going on between muggles." She shrugged her shoulders and had a bit more of ice-cream.

Draco shook his head once more and began walking to his bedroom.

"I'm telling you, Granger, you'll get fat this summer." His voice had a solemn tone and faded away as he got closer to his destination.

Even though she could just dismiss it, saying she didn't hear him, she just couldn't. She heard him loud and clear. And thinking this way, she _would_ be gaining weight if she kept this routine. Because my oh my, this was the fifth day in a row she did this.

So she put the bowl on the coffee table, sat up straight and turned the TV off, staring at it without seeing it.

There was another pop on the living room, but this one she didn't even hear, lost in thought. The dark-haired wizard saw her on the couch, still as if she had been stunned. He cautiously approached her and saw that she was just deep in thought; not wanting to disturb, he moved towards the bedroom.

"Hey, mate." Draco saluted when his friend walked inside his room. Blaise nodded back in acknowledgment.

"What's up with Granger?"

"What do you mean?" The blond sat up straight on his bed to give room for the other.

"Well, she didn't even see when I arrived... she was just sitting on the couch staring at that TV thing - that was off by the way."

"She was fine when I got here... fifteen minutes ago." He raised an eyebrow.

"Well, she doesn't look so fine now, mate." Both men went to the living room to find that Hermione was still oblivious to her surroundings.

Blaise approached her carefully and sat next to her while Draco knelt in front of her.

"Hermione?" They thought it was sensible to call her that way.

She blinked once and twice and then her gaze seemed to focus back in reality. The boys breathed more calmly now, but were surprised when they heard her next words.

"I can't keep up like this. I'm gonna die!" She half shouted.

"What? What the hell are you talking about?" The blond asked looking strangely at her, feeling Blaise's gaze on him. His mate obviously thought he had done something. He always did.

"You were right, Malfoy." Again, Blaise looked at him as if saying 'What the bloody hell did you do, mate?'. "I'm laying, eating and watching my way to obesity and I'm OK with it. Well, not anymore!"

"You told her she was getting fat? What the heck is your problem, fuck-wit?" Blaise caught on what had happened, but before Draco had a chance to say anything in his behalf, Hermione spoke again.

"No, it's fine Zabini. Because you know what? He's absolutely right. I can't stay in for three months eating ice-cream." She looked a bit sad to the boys and she _was_ feeling sad. "If you need me, I'll be on my room."

They watched as she got up and walked to her sanctuary without even cleaning the living room.

"Do you see what you've done?" Draco rolled his eyes at his best friend in response. "Come on, we can't let her sulk to death in her bed."

"What?"

Blaise ignored him and walked towards her bedroom, knowing he would follow. He knocked gently and opened the door when she invited them in.

"Get dressed, Granger. We're going out tonight." His voice left no room for argument and if she wasn't Hermione Granger, she would not complain.

"I don't want to go out." Her voice had a whining tone. "I'm tired."

That wasn't true and they all knew it.

"Of laying around? Get dressed, we leave in thirty." Draco said with a grin.

"Fine. Where are we going, I mean, what should I wear?"

"We'll stay at Muggle London." Blaise said and left with Draco.

The boys went to their rooms to get showered and dressed. Half an hour later the three friends were already leaving the apartment, the guys leading Hermione to a small but comfy diner.

"Are you guys shitting with me?" They had stopped looking at her as if she had grown a second head when she cursed, now clearly used to it. Hermione looked at the menu and sighed.

"Oh come on, Granger. You're not fat. You just need to stop eating ice-cream every single day and get out from the house." Malfoy said with a light tone, but it had a tinge of plead in it.

"Yeah, he's right. And think of it, we spend most of our year inside the castle, this break is not meant for you to stay in."

Their talk was interrupted while the waiter took their order.

"You guys just don't understand. It's not like I planned on staying in. I was going out with Harry and Ron yesterday but they got called on a mission and today I was going to meet a cousin to go shopping, but it was too hot! My blood pressure can't take it."

"Granger," Draco said lowering his voice. "You're a witch, cast a cooling charm around yourself... or something. Go to places that have this cool muggle thing, AC you call it?"

"Whatever, what my friend's is trying to say is, work around it. When you were searching for the Horcruxes and you couldn't find them, did you just give up and went on hiding, ruining the _good_ Gryffindor name?"

"You know damn right I didn't." She said a bit angry and proud of her courage and the House he had just insulted. She was about to continued talking but good to the Slytherins, the waiter came back with the order.

"Hot dog with cheese and a beer." He put the plate in front of Blaise. "Cheese and ham sandwich with a Coke." He all but threw the plate in front of Draco. "And a cheeseburger with mayonnaise, bacon and onions and a chocolate milkshake to the lady." This time the waiter, that was close to age with them, smiled at Hermione brightly. She smiled back but was more focused on her food, but Blaise and Draco noticed it all. "Here are your fries." He looked at her one more time and left the table.

Hermione was already attacking her burger since ice-cream was the only thing she had eaten during the day.

"Grange, you do realize that that guy was flirting with you, right?"

"No, he wasn't Blaise." She reached for the fries and put mayonnaise on it.

"Yes, he was. Blaise is right, Grange." He said biting his sandwich.

"Really?" She looked at them with a new sparkle on her eyes. "He was?"

"Close your mouth, Granger." They said playfully.

She threw a fry at their direction but missed them both, she managed to throw it at the back of the head of the woman sitting the next table.

"I'm so sorry, ma'am." She shook her head. "Look what you've done." Her burger got her attention again and she ignored the laughing boys.

Part Two - swinging your way to oblivion

They left the diner and decided to walk a little, not wanting to go home just yet. The streets were filled with people and there were a lot of tourists too, the ones that wanted to see the night life of the city.

"Where are we going?" Contrary to earlier, now it was Hermione that was leading them.

"Oh, just some place I used to come with my parents when I was little. It's just over this corner." She said in a light tone when they turned said corner. A smile graced over her lips and both boys couldn't help but smile with her.

They were at a small playground and even though it was already dark, the street lights lighted it just fine. There wasn't a soul there other then them, but there wasn't that sense of danger either.

"Push me!" Hermione shouted suddenly, moving away from them.

"I beg your pardon?" Blaise said.

"What?" Draco asked at the same time.

"Can you push me?" She elaborated, pointing to the swing with an even larger smile. She sat on it and started to move, waiting for one of them to push her. Draco was soon behind her, complying.

Her giggles became more frequent as she went higher and Draco was laughing at her childish ways. Even though they worked together and shared an apartment, they didn't really talk about their childhoods - neither of them. This, the swing, the park, it showed them a part of Hermione that they never knew about.

"Higher, higher!" She yelled with a louder giggle at the end because Draco had indeed pushed her higher.

Blaise looked at his mate and their female roommate and how they were interacting. Thinking it was better to let Draco make total peace with her, he nodded his head to him and disappeared with a pop.

The blond kept on pushing her for about five more minutes and then, out of the blue, Hermione let go of the swing, when she was high in the air and for a second it was like she was flying. Draco shouted her name and the swing almost hit him for not paying attention to it.

Hermione didn't fall, she stayed high in the air for more than it was possible. Her eyes were closed, arms wide open and a smile on her face. Draco ran to her, and now stood in front of the swing a few feet bellow her, his mouth wide open in surprise, his arms ready to catch her if needed. But she didn't need it.

She opened her eyes and her smile grew even bigger at the sight of him. She then started to slowly float down and landed on her feet, the most peaceful expression on her face since the war. She threw her arms around his neck and after a few second, he hugged her back.

"How did you do that?" He pushed her away only enough so he could see her face, he needed to make sure that what had happened was completely real.

She laughed quietly and grabbed his hand, leading them to sit on a nearby bench.

"I hadn't done that since I was eleven!" She said, the smile never leaving her. "It's magic, Draco. I still remember the first time it happened... I was four or five...

"I was right here at this park and was playing on the swing. I didn't have many friends when I was little, I was different and kids didn't like me much. So, this older boy came and started pushing me, higher and faster and I was really nervous and scared. And then... my hand slipped from the chains and I was in the air, really high. I could hear the other kids laughing at me and felt tears in my eyes, so I just squeezed them shut and I just wished I could fly or at least not fall down on my face and suddenly the other kids weren't laughing anymore and I didn't meet the ground. So I opened my eyes and saw that I was floating slowly down. Some parents were looking at me because they heard all the commotion and my own came running to me and took me home immediately, not understanding what happened.

"The other day when I came back to the playground, nobody talked to me, they actually moved away from me. I even heard an older girl talking to her mother.

'It's that weird girl from yesterday, mom. She was flying, I saw it!'

'Keep away from her, sweetie. She wasn't flying. Nobody can fly.'

'But I saw it, mom! It was like magic!'

'There's no such thing as magic. Keep away from her.'"

Draco was even more shocked than before and saw that that happy face of hers was gone.

"Wow. I guess I never thought how it would be like to grow up without knowing what you really are. I never actually imagined what it would be like for a muggleborn to grow up. I mean, all the magic that we do! My parents were always happy when I did it. Your parents were probably scared."

"At first they were, especially this time. It was the first I had done something like that, that they couldn't blame something else. But they accepted that I was different, special and made me see things this way and not as something bad." Her smile returned, showing her love for her parents. "They sometimes came here with me at night time and just let me be myself, no one to shy away from."

"So, when you received your Hogwarts letter?"

"They were happy for me, happy that I would be able to learn more of who I was and discover new things to do with the magic in me."

They stayed quiet for sometime and Draco pulled her to rest against him and they intertwined fingers.

"You know, Harry told me his mother could do something like this when she was little and didn't know about who she was. It was Snape that told her she was a witch and all about Hogwarts." She sighed. "I never told anyone about this." Her voice was quiet.

Draco pushed her away and moved from the bench, behind her, to the ground, to face her. He also had some sort of peaceful expression and suddenly he kissed her softly on the lips, but it was more of a friendship gesture.

"Thank you for sharing it with me." He said when they pulled apart and Hermione nodded slowly, sighing after a while.

Part Three - magic, magic... screw it, you're hectic

They walked back to their apartment, holding hands. Hermione was now truly tired, but extremely happy for what had happened, for sharing that part of herself with someone she cared about and knew he cared about her also.

"Thanks for the night. I truly enjoyed it." She said when they got in. She looked around and saw Blaise in the kitchen area.

"Hey, I was beginning to worry about you two." He said in a joke. "Coffee?" He raised the pot of recently brewed coffee for them.

"Aren't you gonna lose your sleep? I'll take water." Hermione asked while she took off her shoes.

"What are sleeping potions for, Granger?" Draco smirked and served a cup for himself while Blaise put a cup of water on top of the counter for their roommate.

She was standing about three meters from the counter and decided that maybe it was time to show a little bit more of who Hermione Granger was to the two of them. She raised her hand to the glass and concentrated on the task of feeling the magic in her fingertips.

"_Accio_ glass of water." She whispered the words softly but with confidence.

The boys watched the concentration she was involved in and how the glass gently lifted from the counter and floated slowly to her out stretched hand. The also saw that the moment the glass touched skin, her knees began to give in to her lack of energy and they rushed to her, one grabbing her and one attempting to prevent the glass from shattering on the floor.

"Merlin's beard, Granger! What the hell was that?" Blaise asked, lifting her up easily on his strong arms so that she didn't hurt her bare feet.

Draco unfortunately didn't manage to hold the damn glass of water and now the floor was dangerously full of shattered glass of all sizes and water.

Hermione rested her head against his strong shoulder and whispered softly, without the energy to talk louder. "Can you take me to bed, Blaise?"

He looked at her face and saw that her eyelids were half closed. The Italian boy looked at his mate and gave him a nod, carefully avoiding the mess on the floor and moving to her bedroom so that she could rest;

"What were you thinking?" He was muttering to himself while he lowered her to the soft mattress.

"It was just wandless magic, Zabini. It's not like I tried to kill myself." She chuckled quietly. She saw that he still wore a worried expression and whispered her next words. "I just wanted to show you a bit more of myself."

He sighed heavily and a small smile graced his lips.

"Yeah, I know. Sorry for overreacting like that. It's that... I really worry about you and I'd hate to see you get hurt, y'know." He kept eye contact with her and she could see how soft his midnight blue eyes were as he spoke.

"Blaise," she gently touched his hand with hers. "I do this all the time. It only backfired on me because of what happened early."

"Tired? And what is backfire?" He raised his eyebrow.

"Muggle expression, forget it. Oh, just ask Draco, he'll explain it to you."

She was emotionally drained but her body had enough energy to keep her awake for sometime.

"Can I ask you something?" He answered with a 'sure' and she continued. "Can you stay with me until I sleep?"

She didn't need him there to sleep - he knew -, but it felt nice to him that she wanted him to. He sat on the head of the bed and she rested head against his warm chest. The wizard put his hand over her arms in a soothing way that made her warm and sleepy.

"Thanks, Blaisy." She muttered after five minutes when sleep took over her.

He watched her for a few more minutes until he heard a shout in the living room and a flow of curses. He shook his head and went to see what his mate had done. Draco was kneeling on the floor with a bloody hand nestled safely on his chest. The blond looked up with eyes shinning from unshed tears.

"I cut my hand." Draco said in a heartbreaking way that made people want to hug him and keep him safe. Blaise smiled softly and knelt beside him, taking his hand to see the injure. He accio-d a muggle first aid kit (Hermione had insisted on it and taught them how to use it) and started to tend his mate's hand.

"What happened after I left?" He asked trying to shift Draco's attention from the glass on his hand.

"It was unbelievable." He paused to gather his thoughts. "She jumped from the swing - when it was high! And she didn't fall, she _floated_ to the floor, Blaise. You can't believe how scared I was." He hung his head and hissed when the other put some medicine on the injure. "She told me how it was when she first did magic, I mean, we grew up knowing who we were - but she had no clue on what she was doing, who she was. She was an outsider, Blaise. Her own parents looked at her in a weird way."

The Italian boy listened and began to feel sad, he also couldn't imagine growing up like that. He finished tending to Draco's hand and decided to lighten the mood.

"She asked me to stay with her until she slept... she called me 'Blaisy'," Draco gave him a knowing look and he felt the need to add: "She was sleeping when she said that, it wasn't like she planned on saying it."

"You hate when girls call you that, you always said it was a clingy combo, the annoying pet name plus the touching they do." He studied his friend more closely and for a second his face flashed with surprise and happiness and came back to the usual blank. "You liked it." He didn't ask, he didn't say with a hint of sarcasm... he just stated what he knew that was the truth.

They stayed quiet for a few moments, looking each other in the eyes and trying to find out what the other was thinking - they failed, of course, since both were masters at the art of maintaining blank faces.

"The witch makes me want to protect her, even though she doesn't need protection." Blaise said softly and he looked truly perturbed. Draco nodded to him solemnly, showing that he felt the same way.

"We're screwed."

That was an understatement. They were independent wizards and didn't rely on other people, their parents, being at Slytherin and the war taught them that much. They only truly trusted each other, but that little witch was changing that concept. It would be a sticky situation if they fell for her - which was beginning to happen, strangely it was only now, after several years of friendship and add seven more of knowing each other.

They shook their heads when the thought of her moving out, changing jobs and never talking to them again crossed their minds. Blaise carefully took charge of cleaning the remaining shattered glass while Draco moved the first aid kit away.

They moved to Blaise's room and kept talking to each other, discussing things and thinking for about another hour or so.

The next day Hermione woke up at ten, feeling pretty good with her energy recharged. She left the room and wandered through the house thinking about the night before. When she didn't see the boys, she went to Draco's room - the last room on the end of the corridor, on the right side. She knocked on the door but didn't receive an answer so she took her wand out and entered the room carefully, expecting to find someone in there that had hurt the young Malfoy. He was a light sleeper and always woke up with the smallest of sounds. She looked around and saw no one.

Her worry intensified and she went to Blaise's room - the one across from Draco's. Again she knocked on the door and got no answer. She opened the door and raised her wand but when she took in the scene she quickly lowered it.

Draco and Blaise were on the bed, sleeping soundly. Their bodies were facing one another and they were close, sharing the same pillow. Blaise was sleeping on his left side and his right hand was touching Draco's right injured one, it was as if he fell asleep protecting it from any possible harm. Draco had his hair all over his face and looked so sweet it could make her teeth hurt. They looked so peaceful that it downed to her that this was not the first time they shared a bed to sleep together. In a nanosecond she wondered if the rumors about them were true and she felt that she should be disgusted at it, but upon seeing them in that peacefulness, she realized that she could never feel that way about them.

She sighed and started closing the door slowly, trying not to wake them up. Ironically, the door cracked and they both lazily opened their eyes. Grey met midnight blue and they shared a smile. They were fully aware of their holding hands, but neither cared. They were close, so what? They had always been close.

Their eyes caught movement by the door and their gazes focused on it, seeing what woke them up. Hermione just stood still, her eyes wide at being caught as if her mother caught her stealing a cookie from the cookie jar before lunch. Her mind told her to snap out of it and she began apologizing for waking them up. She hastily turned and closed the door behind her before they had a chance to react.

They looked at each others eyes again and stood still for some seconds, until they sighed and got up from the bed, intending on finding their roommate.

Hermione was at the kitchen, cooking some eggs when she heard their steps. She turned around slowly - while holding a cooking fork - and she was red from embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, I was just worried that you didn't say anything when I knocked. I-I didn't mean to wake you up. You were so cute and peaceful." She murmured the last sentence and blushed even more, she turned her focus to the eggs and missed their excited smiles.

She hadn't frown upon them after all. Maybe there was hope for them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summer Nights**

**Author: Bea Mendes**

**Pairing: **Hermione Granger x Draco Malfoy / Hermione Granger x Blaise Zabini / Dramionaise

**Genre: **Friendship

**Rated: K+**

**Summary:** Hermione, Draco and Blaise work together at Hogwarts and managed to create a friendship. But now it's summer time, which means going to their apartment in Muggle London. Nothing better than the threat of heat strokes to unite them.

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter and it's characters are not mine. Don't sue me.

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><p><strong>AN: **Jigsard is the low security prison of the Wizarding World - totally my creation.

Forgot to say, the story was not beta-read and I didn't revise it after quickly typing it from my notebook.

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><p><strong>Chapter Two<strong>

Part four - planting the seed and talking about it

Three days passed by and they didn't talk about what Hermione had seen. The weather today was cooler and all the weathermen said it would rain the next day. She smiled when she pushed her arm outside the window and felt a slightly cold breeze. She threw some jeans and a t-shirt that said 'I S2 boys'. She loved that shirt, inside the heart it was written over and over the words gorgeous, fun, tall, rich, hot, smart and buff.

She smiled when she saw the time, while she made breakfast, when she greeted her roommates and when she grabbed her purse and bid them goodbye.

"What do you think happened? She was avoiding us for three days and now she all but didn't stop smiling." Draco asked.

"I think it's the weather."

The war heroine breathed deeply the fresh air of the cool summer day, she turned into an alley and apparated to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Hi, Tom." She waved at him but didn't stop to talk, she came to the huge brick wall and tapped at it with her wand. Diagon Alley appeared in front of her and she walked at a steady pace to a nice restaurant that was still closed (since it was only ten a.m.). She knocked on the door and it didn't take thirty seconds for her to hear a response.

"For the love of Merlin! Can't anyone read anymore? There's a sign on the door and it says that we're still clos-" A red head came from a back door that was obviously the kitchen and she stopped yelling when she saw who was at the door. "Hermione!" She gave her a bright smile and wand to the door to let her friend in. They hugged tightly.

"Oh my gosh, I didn't think you would come out at all this summer!" Her friend said in an understanding tone.

"Neither did I, but look at the sky today!" She giggled. She was as feminine as one could be with her best friend. "How's business?"

A few months after the war, Ginny discovered that she had inherited some of her father's love for muggle things, it was directed to muggle cuisine. She spoke to her mother and Hermione and learned to cook some muggle dishes. It turned out she as good as her mother at the kitchen and she decided to turn down the Harpies offer of a place at the team claiming that "all the restaurants at Diagon Alley were as good as crap and neither had muggle food".

"Oh, everything is great! How are you, it's been ages since we talked!"

"I know Gin. You have no idea how I miss our talks, that's why I want to know if you want to have a late lunch with me today?" She asked the younger witch. "If it's okay to leave the restaurant."

"Oh, nonsense, they can survive without me for the afternoon."

"Great! So I'll come by three-ish?"

Ginny thought for a second about the movement the restaurant had on a Friday for lunch. "Make it four." She said with a smile. "What are you gonna do until then?"

"Some shopping in muggle London is definitely in order, but I think I'll go by the Ministry and say hello to the boys. See you later, Gin!"

Hermione left and Ginny went back to the kitchen.

The oldest went to Muggle London and she knew what she needed before the real start of that day: a good coffee provided by Starbucks.

"Good morning, may I take your order?"

Hermione looked at the guy that worked at the coffee shop and couldn't help a smile. He was handsome and young and was definitely smiling back - and not in the 'may I take your order' way.

"Hello, I would like a White Mocha Frappuccino with mint." She was thoughtful for a second and decided the size. "Grande, please."

His smile was still there and he nodded in approval of her drink choice.

"Your name?" He asked, more to know himself than for her drink.

"Hermione." She said softly.

The guy - 'James' said his tag - asked for another employee to register the orders and did her coffee himself. They talked a bit about her drink and he admitted that that was _his_ favorite drink.

"Oh, you're just saying that." She laughed a bit.

"Cream?" He asked holding the cream up and added to her coffee. "I'm serious. It's my favorite. It's comforting." He said softly and handed her the cup. "There you go, Hermione."

"Thank you, James. It was nice talking to you." She grabbed her drink and left. She would definitely see James again - the Starbucks was surprisingly close to her house and it had opened when she was at Hogwarts, the last school year.

She drank her coffee while she moved towards the mall and in no time she was there looking around, trying to find nice new clothes to buy. Even though she was a witch, she was a muggleborn and would never leave behind her muggle wear.

She exited the mall with only one bag - and it was a small one. She didn't buy much clothes there... ever; but she thought she should give it a try. Hermione ended up going to the familiar street that had her favorite stores.

Several stores, tryouts, bags of clothes and hours later, she was finished shopping. She was pretty happy with herself and when she looked at the clock she saw she had a good time until she had to meet with Ginny.

Her walk was slow, her pretext was that she wanted to enjoy the 'nice' weather, but in reality she was a bit reluctant to go to the Ministry. It was unbelievable, every time she was there with Harry and Ron something happened. She took a deep breath and entered the telephone booth and dialed the Ministry's numbers.

"Ministry of Magic. Do you have an appointment?" The voice rang loud and clear and rude.

"No, but-"

"I'm sorry," the voice sounded anything but sorry. "You cannot come inside. Goodb-"

Hermione got angry with the voice and decided to use the direct approach her reputation gave her.

"Hermione Granger to see Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley."

She didn't need to say another word and the voice clearly didn't know what to say. She felt the booth descending and soon enough she saw the owner of the voice. Pansy Parkinson. Most had done well in life after Hogwarts, the rest... not so much. It was crystal clear that she was afraid of losing her job for treating the Gryffindor Princess, Golden Trio Brains, War Hero the way she had. She thought she was unemployed.

"Thank you, Parkinson." The Gryffindor said when the blonde girl gave her an identification with shaky hands. She turned to walk away but stopped as if she remembered something. "You know, you should really not talk to people like that. Who knows what might happen if you piss someone off." She said with the arrogance and menace of a true Slytherin and then walked away to see her friends.

While at the elevator, surrounded by crazy-flying memos, she returned to her first day at Hogwarts, to the Sorting Ceremony.

_- Flashback -_

Hermione looked around the huge room in wonder. She had read about it in Hogwarts - A History of course, but the book failed to express the greatness it had. There was a hat on a stool, waiting to be used and again, she had read about it in what was now her favorite book.

He was there to sort her into one of the four houses and she wondered where she would be sorted to. Professor McGonagall called her name and the great majority of the students already knew she was a muggleborn - since they didn't know her surname. She sat nervous on the stool and heard the Hat's voice inside her mind when he touched her head.

"Ah, Hermione Granger!" He said, sounding proud to finally meet her. "You will give me a hard time sorting you."

"What do you mean?" She asked in a whisper, thinking she wasn't worthy of all this magic dream she had been living.

"You are very insecure, child." There was a chuckle, but it wasn't evil. "You have the brains of a Ravenclaw, the temper of a Slytherin and the courage of a Gryffindor. You would have clear success in Ravenclaw, people who understood everything you said and understood your knowledge seeking need.

"In Slytherin you would meet astuteness and friends that would be loyal if you proved yourself, if you showed trust. Brains almost as great as Ravenclaws - if not as great. Though I'm not sure you would have a great start."

"Why?" Her voice was less than a whisper now.

"Because of you parentage, my child. You are a muggleborn, this would surely cause a lot of talking and discussions. You would be the first in the history of that House. Your insecurities would surely be a problem if you let them get you.

"In Gryffindor you would find friends just as loyal and probably will have to prove yourself even more fiercely to them. It is not light the weight of being sorted into that House and it takes great strength to endure it. Many and most may not understand your need of study and not approve your short recklessness."

The hat paused briefly to let the words sink in.

"The choice is yours, my child."

"I can't choose." Her voice was strained. She didn't think she could choose. And as if he had read her thoughts (which he did), the Sorting Hat gave her an answer.

"But you already did. The most hard future, the most challenging one. You will accomplish great things throughout your life." She thought he was smiling at her, but couldn't know for sure, especially since 'he' was a hat. "Gryffindor!" The voice was a shout and her fellow house mates cheered for the new student.

"Thank you." She said to the Hat.

"For what? It was all in your head, my child. I merely stated the truth."

_- End of flashback -_

She never told that to anyone and that meant literally no one. For many years she thought that being almost sorted to Slytherin was a horrible thing and that people (mostly the Gryffindors) would look down on her. After a lot of thought, she came to the conclusion that it wasn't a bad thing, when she rationalized, she could see that Gryffindor and Slytherin had many things in common and drifted apart because of it.

To her eyes, the major difference was that in danger, the lions defended who they loved - sacrificing themselves -, while the snakes saved their asses. But during the war, the lines became rather blurry (on both sides) for her.

"Hermione!" Harry said to her in a pleasant surprise when she walked into his office, the one he shared with Ron.

"How are you?" Ron had been standing next to the door, filing some archives and turned to hug her tightly.

"I'm fine, you guys. I've missed you so much!" She had a tender smiles on her face to the boys she considered her brothers.

"Wow, Herms. Did you leave any clothes at the store?" Harry asked when he hugged her, commenting on her many bags.

"Oh shut it. I am having a late lunch with Ginny. I had a free morning."

"Hey, we're going out tonight to party. Friday, you know. Want to come?" Ron sat on his chair and dug through some parchments, searching something. "Ha! Here it is!" He handed her a colorful paper about the club they would be going. "Tell Ginny, will you? Oh, it you want to call Malfoy and Zabini as well..."

"How are things?" Harry asked in a solemn tone of voice. Even after all these years they didn't trust the two Slytherins.

"Oh, everything's fine, Harry." She gave him a stern look that indicated how much she wanted to discuss this. Again.

They dropped the subject and soon it was time for her to meet with her friend. She used the boys floo to go to the Leaky Cauldron and walked to the restaurant.

"Oh, just in time." Ginny smiled and led her out after shouting with her sous-chef. Hermione was giving her a fun look. "He was burning the cheese! How can someone burn a cheese and don't see? Or even worse, smell it!" She threw her hands up. "I'm not even sure why I made him sous-chef."

"Because he is a good cooker and as stubborn as you are. In other words, he's you when you're out."

They went to a little restaurant in Muggle London and Ginny took the chance to order a dish she didn't know - to see if she liked it and to take to her restaurant.

"So... how are things?" Same question Harry did but her tone of voice was different and she had a smile and was wiggling her eyebrows.

Hermione couldn't help but giggle at her friend. The red head always claimed her friend was lucky to live with those god like men - and lucky they turned out to be nice.

Her face became serious when she remembered the last events. She told her friend what happened in the last week - minus few details on what she told Draco.

"Oh. My. God." Ginny had her mouth open in surprise for a while and then composed herself and ate another ravioli. "Do you think the rumors are true?"

"I don't know, Gin. I mean, in all these years that we live and work together... I don't know. They're close but they never indicated something... well, anything."

"What do you think about this?" Ginny tested the waters.

"I can't seem to stop feeling bad for waking them up. They were so... cute!" She whispered, also testing the waters.

"Oh dear Merlin, thank the heavens! I thought was the only one thinking that about them!"

Hermione chuckled and let out a sigh. They talked for a while but soon enough was time for the redhead to go back to the restaurant to start fixing dinner.

Part Five - oh uncomfortable necessary moments

Hermione went walking to her house, enjoying the rest of the day. She struggled to open the door not wanting to put her bags on the floor and there were some people out, so magic was not an option. She stood there for a moment or two trying to fit the key on the keyhole until the door opened.

"Oh, hallelujah, thanks-" she looked behind the door to see who had opened it. "-you, Mr. Malfoy?"

Her eyes were not seeing it wrong, it was indeed Lucius Malfoy at her house. Which made sense, since she shared a roof with his son. He had his usual smirk on his face and closed the door behind her and turned back to the living room, not saying a word to her. She arched an eyebrow and huffed because of his attitude. She walked to the other room to see things. And there they were, Draco's and Blaise's parents. Super.

"Granger! Shop much?" Draco asked sarcasticcally.

"Hello, Mrs. Malfoy, Mrs. Zabini, Mr. Zabini." She out on her fake smile, the one she always used with them. "Thank you again Mr Malfoy, for opening the door."

"I was merely stopping the annoying noise you were doing.

Saying that they were close was an understatement, because they weren't... at all. She looked at the other parents and saw them wearing the same expression: disdain. She looked one last time at her roommates and saw them wearing expressions of sorry. She shook her head and went to her room to put her new things in place

She maintained her head up in the air and walked away from them without a word. Oh, she could treat them the way they treated her. A thought of Pansy entered her mind but quickly left. How dare they treat her like that at her own house? It was just ridiculous. Ever since the was they started being civil to her, but it's not like they said anything more than what was necessary.

She shook her head as she began putting things away and turned to see what time it was so that she could plan on what to do until it was time to meet with her friends to go to the new club. As she went to her closet to get and outfit out, she thought if she should tell Draco and Blaise, but she figured their parents were still there and she didn't want to talk to them. Just as she thought that, there was a knock on her door and Blaise put his head inside her room.

"Hey, Potter is calling you on the floo, he said it's urgent and he looked pretty worried. He said 'code forest', whatever that means."

Everybody arched an eyebrow as Hermione made a beeline to the fireplace, ignoring everybody else and knelt to talk to her friend. Code forest was something they came up with after the war, it meant 'danger', since when they were on the forests hunting Horcruxes they were always in danger.

"What happened, Harry? Where's Ron?" She said, clearly upset.

The others in the room were playing full attention to what was going on between the two friends.

"He's fine. Herms, we got a threat about five minutes ago. Someone threatened us: Ron, the Weasley's, me and you. The rest of the department is working to find out who did it, as quickly as possible, but until then, they demand that we stay where we are." He paused and when he was about to continue, he was interrupted by Hermione.

"What do you mean 'demand'? Harry James Potter, talk to me."

"We can't leave where we are. Ron and I are stuck in our office, Ginny at her restaurant... and you at your house. Don't even try to turn the door knob, you'll get shocked. They placed spells on where we are, for the moment, to keep us safe. Nobody in, nobody out." He looked over her shoulder and saw the Malfoy's and Zabini's with expressions of shock over their faces. "They put anti-apparation charms and they'll be closing the floo in a few, and before you ask, our floo is only cleared to talk to one another right now."

Hermione saw Ron behind Harry and watched as he knelt down next to their friend.

"I've talked to everybody and they're fine. Kingsley said they still don't know who's causing this. He shared the news.

"We need to get out of the floo, but if you need to talk to us then send Betsy, okay?" Harry said in a rushed tone. "And it would be better if you didn't stay alone, just in case. So don't go to your room and sure as hell don't put silencing charms where you are. If something happens to you, we're blaming them." Harry finished darkly, looking behind her.

"Be safe. We'll call when every thing's fine again. "Ron said.

They hurriedly moved away from the floo and so did Hermione, not wanting to stay stuck there. She just sat there for a moment trying to absorb the news when she heard Draco's mother speak, in a superior tone.

"Who's Betsy? Is it your house elf? She should make us dinner since we're stuck in here for Merlin knows how long."

Hermione turned to look at her harshly and anger could be seen in her eyes.

"We _do not_ have and house elf. If you are hungry then _you_ can make yourself something to eat." She was walking towards the kitchen when she turned and grabbed her wand. "_Expecto patronum_." A light came out of it and turned into a more than respectful puma. "This is Betsy." She said, smirking at Narcissa, Lucius, Gabriella and Pietro's expression of fear. It seemed like it was going to be a long, long night.

She entered the kitchen area and moved to stay out of the view of the people on the living room.

_"Do you know who did it?"_ Draco's voice was low but she heard it none the less. She focused on not hearing but at the same time she wanted to relax, she felt the need to cook and let energy leave her body, so she put her wand on the counter and felt the energy pilling up her body. The lights flicked for a moment and she knew they could simply explode because of her. If Harry was able to blow his aunt once than anything was quite possible.

She went to the fridge and decided to make her some dinner. She waved her hand towards the things she wanted and they started to float, as she set them on the counter, she waved her other hand to the closet under the sink to grab some pans. In a normal day she knew she'd be pushing her limits, but the anger gave her fuel and she knew she could do this.

She was so caught up in trying to remember the right recipe while lighting the fire with a snap of her fingers that she didn't notice two aristocratic figures appear in the kitchen area and call their husbands quickly to the scene. Of course they knew she was one of the brightest witches alive and knew she was powerful, but they didn't know how powerful she really was. Hell, Draco and Blaise lived with her and only found out she could perform wandless magic a while ago. The four parents stood in awe as they saw her cooking wandlessly and Narcissa couldn't help but gasp when she saw Hermione's arm, the "artwork" her sister had done all those years ago.

The young witch was about to crack an egg on the pan when she heard the gasp, which made made her quickly turn around to see who was there. Her eyes widened and she suddenly became aware of the egg that was about to hit the ground. Since everything was out, she quickly waved her hand at it and made a movement upwards, seeing it come up right before it shattered and came to stand in front of her, so with the other hand she grabbed it. She turned around, with her back to the four menacing people that were her roommate's parents and put out the fire.

"I believe you will be speaking with the Ministry about this."

She said in a soft sad voice. She had managed to keep this from everybody for so long. And now everybody would know. When the Ministry was under the control of Voldemort, a lot of laws against muggleborns were approved, such as one that said that every change in power of a muggleborn should be reported - such as being able to do wandless magic. Even though the War ended a long time ago and the Ministry was ending all those Laws, a lot were still to be analyzes and ended. She looked at the four wizards fully knowing they would be reporting her ASAP - being law abiding citizens who always respect the Law, as long as it suited them, which would be the case. Hermione scratched her forehead analyzing what would happen. She would first be arrested and would have to explain how and for how long she was doing it.

Then she would receive a visit - probably while she was still locked up - from the Headmaster of Hogwarts, to say that he couldn't let her go back to teach because of the pressure of of the parents or he would say he didn't know how to trust her anymore since she hadn't trusted him and therefore, couldn't let her teach. No matter what, she knew she would never be able to teach again.

She didn't notice when Lucius and Pietro walked back into the living room, after a look from their wives and being followed by their sons, who sported slightly worried expressions.

Narcissa cleared her throat politely.

"What were you going to cook?" Gabriella asked, the mood around the three witches was tense.

"Spanish tortillas." Hermione answered out of reflex, still thinking about the consequences, all of the possibilities. Her right hand covered the scars on her left arm, but she did it subconsciously.

"We can do that." Narcissa said tentative, looking at her life long friend Gabriella and watching as she nodded slowly. They knew how to cook, they just didn't cook and didn't let people know they knew.

"Why don't you go to your room? The boys will call you when everything is ready." Narcissa said softly and it was weird to see that side of her directed to someone outside her family - which included the Zabiniss.

Hermione was feeling numb and merely nodded, not really realizing what was going on, the change of the relationship they shared. It was minimum, but it was there.

Part Six - everything's not lost

"Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Zabini, your wives are calling you." Her voice was barely there, she felt a lump on her throat and she let her head down while she walked past the living room and went to the safety of her room. She was barely able to get to her bedroom before the first tears left her eyes. She went to her bed and sat on it, hugging her knees as she began to sob and the thought of what would happen shook Hermione to the core. There was a knock on the door but she didn't hear, her roommates came into the room and closed the door behind them. They sat on the bed, in front of her, and Blaise touched her shoulder. It took a moment or two before she was able to focus on them.

"Hey." Draco whispered so that he didn't upset her more.

"How could I have been so stupid?" She whispered and a tear left her eye. "I never thought your parents would _ever_ step on the kitchen area. Everything's lost now." Her voice was as broken as she appeared to be.

"What are you talking about?" The blond raised an eyebrow.

"What you mean what do I mean?" She looked at them as if they were morons. "The moment this lockdown is over, your parents will be going to the Ministry to talk about this and I will go to jail! What do you think will happen after that? The press will be all over this and I will lose my job because of a Law that Voldemort created to be able to control muggleborns! I can't believe this is happening." Her breathing was labored because of her little nervous speech. "After all these years, Voldemort is still screwing with my life. Where is the justice in this? Why is he still able to mess up lives? He's dead for Merlin's sakes!"

Her mood was weird and she would one day blame it on PMS hormones.

"I wish I could obliviate you all. But I would probably get killed if I raised a wand against you. I mean, I'm only one, it's not like I can obliviate on while blocking five attacks." She was quiet for a moment and the boys exchanged worried looks, wondering if she was actually considering that.

"Hermione..." Blaise spoke with a guarded tone of voice and it did not go unnoticed by her.

"I obviously won't be doing this, Zabini." She rolled her eyes at him. She was thoughtful for another moment. "I wish I could disappear right now and avoid everything." She let out a sigh. "I need to think about what I will be doing after I'm out of Jigsard. I wonder who will want to hire someone who just left prison."

"Oh, please, for Merlin's sakes! You are a War hero and this would show how much work still needs to be done inside the Ministry. It's not like you are going to jail, and even if you did, you would get a job in a heart beat after it. So stop sulking for something that is not even going to happen!"

Blaise shook his head at Draco's outburst.

"What he means is that our parents won't rat you out. I know the looks our moms had, and believe me, our fathers will not go against them." He snorted at the end with Draco, as if remembering something.

Hermione watched them with calculating eyes.

"You are making no sense."

They shook their heads at the same time and leaned on each other, sighing heavily to show her they were both tired and annoyed with the on-going subject.

"Hermione, believe me when I say this, Mother would have never spoken to you like that if she was going to rat you out or let Father do that." Draco said casually, which made her arch an eyebrow in response.

"I really think you've all hit a truce, you know? I mean, they knew you were more powerful than lots of people, but I don't think they had ever realized the extent of that." Blaise sighed once again. "You have to understand, they - we - were raised believing that muggleborns are just jokes of nature, I mean, power comes from family, which is why most purebloods only marry other purebloods. Like our families for instance, we are the most powerful families for a reason. And continuing with this logic, this would mean that muggleborns are only a step above squibs. I'm not saying it's true though, I'm just explaining what we've heard most of our lives.' He quickly added as her expression became one of fury. "It's hard to see that all of that is not true, it takes a while."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "It took you way less time.'

"Yes, well, they are a bit older than us, aren't they?" Draco snorted.

There was a knock on the door and the three of them looked at it, hearing the retreating footsteps.

"I think dinner's ready."

"I-I can't." Hermione stated shaking slightly. "I want to be alone."

"You sound like a child."

"Ignore Draco. You need to come, you can't be alone, remember? I think Potter made that very clear."

"Granger." Draco saw she was still reluctant. "You are coming."

What scared her more than his final tone was the look in his eyes and in a flash Blaise was showing the same expression. They quickly were standing and before Hermione could realize what was going on, they lifted her up off the bed - Blaise was holding her upper body and Draco her legs.

"Put me down!" She started laughing as Blaise started tickling her to prevent her from struggling.

The four adults turned their heads to the corridor when they heard all the commotion.

When they reached the living room, Draco put her feet down and Blaise let her go after being sure she had her balance. Both boys still had smiles as they went to the table to sit with their parents but Hermione just stood there, not knowing what to do - and that annoyed her to no end. They noticed her inner struggle and Draco walked back to her, he held out his hand to her and she looked at his eyes; something in them calmed Hermione and she took his hand. He stayed by her side in the short walk and put his hand on the small of her back, to lead and comfort her. Blaise was waiting by the table and pulled a chair out for her and gave her a soft smile, she would sit between them.

On the plates, there were educated portions of food and Hermione could see steam leaving them. The table had been neatly set and there was a jar - that Hermione had never seen before - full of water.

"What is this?" Draco asked examining his plate.

"It looks weird." Blaise frowned at the food as he put his head to the side.

"Blaise, come puoi dire questo? Quante volte devo dirtelo: non parla così del cibo!"¹ Gabriella Zabini was scolding her son, Hermione didn't have to know Italian to know it. "I am sorry." She apologized looking at Hermione.

"They are Spanish Tortillas." The young witch answered out of habit. "It's basically eggs, potatoes and onions." She thought for a second and arched an eyebrow. "It is a muggle dish. An at a time it was pretty common around peasants.

She didn't need to ask the question as it was already hanging on the air. Narcissa and Gabriella looked at each other with sly smiles and Hermione just knew she would never find out how the two witches learned how to cook a muggle dish - or to cook at all, for that matter.

Dinner was being awkward, just as everybody assumed it would be. But it was an evolution - one that nobody could have predicted.

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><p>¹ "Blaise, how can you say that? How many times do I have to tell you: don't talk like this about food!"<p>

**A/N: **My mother and godmother are always telling me this when I talk like this about weird food. Does anyone hear this too or is it just me?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summer Nights**

**Author: Bea Mendes**

**Pairing: **Hermione Granger x Draco Malfoy / Hermione Granger x Blaise Zabini / Dramionaise

**Genre: **Friendship

**Rated: K+**

**Summary:** Hermione, Draco and Blaise work together at Hogwarts and managed to create a friendship. But now it's summer time, which means going to their apartment in Muggle London. Nothing better than the threat of heat strokes to unite them.

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter and it's characters are not mine. Don't sue me. With all due respect: I love the Queen s2 I think she is absolutely and simply awesome and I wish I was in England to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee!

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><p><strong>AN: **This is the end of the story!

I liked to write it so much. It took me at least two summers to actually write everything and at the end I ended up writing fifty pages on my notebook :)

- At the end of the story there is a sort of glossary for some things said in this last chap.

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><p><strong>Chapter Three<strong>

Part Seven - on and beyond

"Are you absolutely sure?" Hermione asked her best friend. Harry and Ron had apparated into the house ten minutes ago and explained how Kingsley had found out who was threatening them and how all was well now.

"Positive." Harry said all serious.

"How were things around here?" Ron was looking attentively to the Malfoy's and the Zabini's, his had was close to his wand and his tone of voice clearly indicated he wasn't wondering about random things that could have happened during lock down.

"Oh, please, Ronald. Don't be absurd!" Her tone of voice wasn't the she usually used at their bickering, oh no, she was really angry this time. Maybe it was for the fact that the parents wouldn't go to the Ministry and rat on her.

"Hermione! You know we _can't_ trust them!" Ron was shouting by now, his temper getting the best of him.

For some reason no one knew, both friends drew their wands and pointed at each other and started shouting curses, their wands were throwing them in form of colourful energy.

Nobody dared to intervene, letting them blow off some energy. Of course, everybody knew one of them would get hurt in the end, if not both. They all stood on the side lines and at times they dodged some spells that went their way.

Sooner rather than later the blow came. The energy coming from them both was quickly escalating and six people on the room were shocked to see how the redhead was good at what he was doing at the duel. Sure, he was an auror, but honestly they did not see that one coming. Ron sent Hermione a rather nasty spell her way and she retaliated throwing him a spell that gave the receiver the feeling of receiving a slap to the face.

Of course, Ron chose this moment to shout a rather effective "Protego!" instead of just dodging out of the way. Her spell rebounced and hit her right back. Everybody stopped breathing for a couple moments, just watching as her face turned to the side with the magical slap. Considering she was pretty angry, the blow was big... and so was the sound of the slap. She slowly turned her face forward, her gaze slightly unfocused.

A thin line of blood ran down her cheek and pretty much that did the trick to snap everybody out of their stupor.

Much to everyone's surprise, Lucius and Pietro appeared suddenly in front of the young witch with their wands drawn, creating a barrier between her and the rest of the trio. Of course, the person who was really in danger was Ronald Weasley, but anyway.

"I think you two should leave." Blaise's voice was low and threatening, much different than the way he usually spoke. Before Harry or Ron could say something, Draco spoke too.

"It's our house." He looked at Potter and raised his eyebrow, not to start a fight, but to make some sense enter his head. It worked.

"Let's go Ron." He put his hand on his friend's shoulder and apparated them away.

Slowly Lucius and Pietro moved away from their guarded stance and were met by their wives, which had slight smiles on their faces, they felt proud for their husband's attitudes. Draco and Blaise moved closer to Hermione.

"I can handle my own battler." The young witch spoke as she saw the parents moving to go home.

"Of course you can." Lucius made a gesture with this hand, dismissing her angry and still slightly surprised tone of voice. "You just shouldn't have to handle them."

With that being said, they disapparated. The statement honestly surprised her, but a smile appeared on her face.

"Let's get this blood wiped clean." Blaise grabbed her hand and lead her to sit on the couch as Draco went to pick a bowl of water and towel.

Immediately she thought about saying something about their muggle-like ways and how they could just heal her cheek magically, but she thought again and kept quiet, proud of her work. She took a couple seconds to glance around. The living room had remained pretty much intact. There was a hole or two on the wall, but nothing a flick of her wand couldn't fix it.

"Stay still, this will hurt a bit." Draco knelt in front of her and wet the towel to wipe the blood away. She cringed when he touched her bruise. "Sorry." He put medicine to keep it from getting an infection.

"Why on Earth would you-"

"I couldn't let Ronald imply you had done something against me. They should know better than saying this to me. I think it's pretty clear that we can trust you."

Blaise, on her left side, conjured a stylized band-aid and put it on her cheek to cover the small cut. Draco smiled at it.

Hermione wanted to see the band-aid but she could wait a moment or two. She looked at Draco, still kneeling in front of her. He was so close and she suddenly saw how adorable he was. She couldn't help but lean forward and kiss him. It took a moment for him to kiss her back, but soon enough she parted away from him. Though it was short, this definitely wasn't like the kiss on the park. That one was merely a peck on the lips, this one actually meant something for them both.

She was feeling rather silly as she turned to look at Blaise in the eyes. He was looking at her in such a sweet way, but as she analyzed his eyes more, she could see a bit of pain in them. It was in that moment that she made a big decision. She lifted her left hand to his cheek and leaned forward one more time. Her face sported a good Gryffindorian courage look, but inside she felt rather afraid of receiving a rejection. Gladly for her, Blaise didn't back up and the two kissed.

Part Eight - the middle

The next day Hermione woke up with the sound of whispering voices. She opened her eyes and smiled when she saw Draco on one of her sides and Blaise on the other. They had shared a bed. Not in the biblical sense of the expression, of course!, it was way too early for something like this. The young witch smiled at their worried looks and got up from the quite warm bed.

If one would ask about the next moment to the two Slytherins, they would say the curtain was opened quite forcefully and quickly. Hermione's smile grew bigger as she saw the clouds covering the whole extension of the sky. She opened the window and stick her arm out, and she giggled at the feeling of the unseasoned cold that was gracing her that moment.

"Get up, scared faces." She smiled at them both. "I want to take you somewhere."

She swiftly moved to her bathroom with the intent of taking a shower. She looked at the mirror and noticed how good she looked considering the whole duel the night before, she looked rested and felt that way too. Hermione stepped closed to the mirror and examined her band-aid

It was red and had a golden lion, there was a "G.P." in beautiful golden letter as well and she would only assume they stood for "Gryffindor Princess". Besides that, she could see a smaller almost faded golden heart on it. The band-aid was so cute she couldn't help the tears that appeared on her eyes and the "awn!" sound that came out of her mouth.

Forty five minutes later they were all at Starbucks, the smell of coffee entering their lungs and making them smile largely. Hermione told them to sit a table and went to order coffees for them all. She was met by James again.

"Hermione! Fancy seeing you here!" He smiled at her and then noticed the band-aid and the faint bruise on her cheek. "What happened to your cheek?!" His voice was low so he would not attract attention to her. He looked over her shoulder, to Draco and Blaise (both sporting not amused looks toward him). "Did one of them do this to you? You need to press charges!"

Hermione smiled softly at him, amazed that he remembered her name after only seeing her on time before.

"Don't worry, James, it's not their faults. They're the good guys here." She looked back at them and laughed at their slightly jealous glances. "This one was actually done by my... hand, so to speak. Really, don't worry. If one of them hit me," she pointed to the table, "they would definitely not see daylight ever again."

James smiled at that and let her order.

"White Mocha Frappuccino Grande with mint?"

She laughed at that.

"Make it a Venti and add hazelnut too, I'm in the mood to try new things." He nodded as he registered it. "Give me a Caramel Macchiato Grande and a..." She looked around the board to choose something for Blaise. "A Chocochip Grande with chocolate."

James charged the coffees and moved to prepare them.

"Nice band-aid, by the way." He smiled softly at the customized thing. "I didn't know you could do that!"

"Yeah, I didn't either." She absently touched it and smiled softly.

"Well, here you go." He put the three coffees in front of her. "Do you want me to help you?"

"No, don't worry, I'll take theirs first. Can you keep an eye on mine?"

She took the coffees to the boys and returned to get her happiness-on-a-cup¹. "Thanks, James."

Hermione called them to put sugar and other things in their cups. Blaise only added a bit of sugar but Draco was bolder and wasn't a bit shy about adding lots of sugar, the same amount in vanilla and just a touch of cinnamon. He mixed it up and tried it, smiling at what he did. He was a natural.

"Grange, I gotta say, this coffee's awesome!" Blaise was happy, his coffee was definitely childhood-on-a-cup¹.

"Yes, I want this to be my last drink." Draco closed his eyes as he drank more of his coffee-sugar-rush source¹.

"Are you drinking cold coffee?" Blaise was making a face at her own choice. "Eek! Cold coffee tastes like foot! How can you drink it?"

"Oh, shush." She rolled her eyes. "It's summer. It's insane to drink hot coffee. And taste it, mine's with mint and hazelnut." She offered her cup as they walked out to sit outside.

She definitely could see they had enjoyed, but proud as they were, she was sure she'd never hear them saying it.

"You guys, I gave something I want to say." She continued as she got their attentions, she sipped her coffee and focused on them one more time. "I don't think I'll go back to Hogwarts when school term starts."

"What? Why wouldn't you return? You know out parents aren't going to say a thing."

Draco was quiet for a moment.

"Is it because of us?" He motioned to the three of them with his fingers. "Is that why you brought us here? To give us a nice cup of coffee and say you're leaving school... are you gonna say you want to move out too?"

"Sure, Draco. That's what my plan was all about! Ditching you _and_ giving you cavit_ies_." She emphasized on the plural as she arched an eyebrow. She rolled her eyes for good measure. "Last night made me think."

"When did you have time to think?!" Draco half shouted and received a blow on the head from his best mate.

"As I was saying, it made me think and I realized that as much fun I have being a teacher and taking points from students, I never _wanted_ to be one. I mean, I only took the job because McGonagall needed help after the war!"

"You never wanted it?" Blaise was a bit shocked, she looked happy at her job.

"No!" She smiled softly. "Being a teacher was never part of the plan, I just think I pushed my dreams aside for all these years. I don't want to do that anymore, maybe I did it because I didn't know what I wanted for sure..."

"You're telling us that you didn't know what you wanted in life?"

She thought for a couple moments on what Blaise asked.

"Yeah. I guess I am." She smiled softly and leaned against her arm chair, her cup in her hands. "Ever since the War ended, Ginny knew she wanted to open up a restaurant - I think she found her passion for cooking before, but I'm not sure. Harry and Ron always wanted to be Aurors - the was only fixed the idea with glue to their heads. Ever since fourth year Neville decided he wanted to work with Herbology and now he's publishing papers and other studies about plants we didn't even know how to use!"

Hermione was going too continue her speech on her colleagues but she was interrupted.

"Okay, okay, we get it. What were your wishes?"

"Well, I considered being a Medi-Witch. St. Mungos even sent me letters over the years to go there, but I don't know. I thought about working at the Department of Mysteries too, but what if it's too lonely?" She sighed and felt lighter. "Did you want to become teachers?"

"I wanted to be an auror?" Hermione raised her eyebrow to Draco.

"Get out of here! This is like me saying I wanted to be a Death Eater, impossible!" She laughed quietly.

"Exactly. It's not like I could really think about it, really. It was impossible without some dark plan behind it. But I don't know, I never really thought about it, I was only a pawn back then, it wasn't really my wishes that mattered."

Hermione's quiet giggles died slowly on her throat as she listened to what he said.

"Oh. I never thought about it like that... What about you, Blaise?"

She expected a different answer, considering his family wasn't actually followers of Voldemort, but she had a feeling she would hear something in those same dark lines.

"Something like what he said... I don't know, if Voldemort had won, I would probably have gone to Italy with my parents and would probably end up working on Zabini Enterprises, but I think I'd like to be an auror as well. We actually secretly trained to it right after the War ended... Kingsley sometimes sends us letters too."

"You're kidding!" Hermione was divided, feeling happy and at the same time a little sad.

"You know what, mate? I think we should change careers." Draco told his friend with the beginning of a smile.

The morning passed quickly as the boys chatted excitedly and drank more coffee. For lunch, Hermione took them to Trafalgar Square and they ate cheeseburgers at a lovely Italian-American restaurant that was packed with tourists² and for the afternoon she took them on a city tour.

"It's embarrassing that you don't know London." She shook her head when they were crossing Green Park, on their way to Buckingham Palace.

"I still don't understand why this _Queen_ is so important." Draco said exasperated and a few gasps came from the people near them. Hermione quickly saw the commotion that was about to spread and quickly added a "God save the Queen" while dragging both boys away to a far tree.

"Listen to me! For the last time: you can't go around saying things like that! I don't care if you think it's all rubbish or even if you don't understand it. If you are born in a Commonwealth country then she's our Queen. People have died for less in the past, you know?"

"But Hermione! I refuse to be her subject, we're wizards!" Blaise whined to her.

"First you are Englishmen, then you are wizards. Always love your country and respect our Queen. Is it so hard for you to follow? You were supporting Voldemort, for crying out loud! She is so much generous next to him!" They both were ready to say something back to her, but she quickly shut them up. "Oy with the poodles already!" Obviously they did not understand what she meant, but shut up at last.

They moved on with the city tour and Hermione was pleased to see they didn't talk about the subject anymore - she didn't care if it was because she forbade them, she was just happy and decided about telling more about England to them. Honestly, it was rather comical that they knew **nothing** about the Muggle world, not even their own country!

The three of them moved back to their house, both Draco and Blaise were carrying bags with "I love London" products. Hermione thought it was very funny.

"Thanks for those... uh... fish and chips?" Blaise raised his eyebrow.

"Does Ginny have them on her restaurant?" Draco's eyes were shinning.

"I don't think so, but hey, why don't you suggest it to her? She'll like it."

As they finally got to the house they saw Harry and Ron sitting on the front steps, clearly waiting for them... oh well, for her.

Ron got up and looked at her bruised cheek.

"I'm sorry." He truly looked sorry.

"It's okay, Ron." Hermione hugged him to her. "It would be you today if you hadn't blocked it." She smiled at him.

"I'll drop the subject." He smiled back.

"So, what are you doing here?" Draco cut the crap, wanting to know the other meaning of the visit.

"Well, _Herms_, we wanted to know if you want to go today to that club, you know, since we didn't go yesterday."

Hermione thought for a second and smiled.

"Sure, we'll go. What time do we meet you there?"

Part Nine - oh happy day

"Stop complaining, I can hear you, you know?" She finished applying mascara on her eyes as she kept hearing their complaints coming all the way from one of their rooms.

Hermione looked one last time at the mirror and applied a spell with her wand, to keep the look gook like that all night. She smiled at her reflexion and went out to pick her annoying roommates.

As soon as she stepped inside Draco's room the boys stopped talking.

"You look beautiful." Draco smiled.

"That you do, _bella_."³ Blaise agreed softly.

"Oh stop it." She was blushing. "And you know how I am when you speak Italian... or French for that matter."

Blaise and Draco spent all of their lives next to each other, it is only natural they both spoke French and Italian. Strange as it may sound, Hermione didn't speak any of those languages, but seeing how they were always speaking them she started considering learning them for quite sometime - but just never had the time nor will to start classes.

"You look _très chic, chérie_." Draco opened his smile more and more to her annoyance.

"_C'est vrai, mon ami_." Blaise spoke in a fun, careless way, his voice carrying a bit of the Italian accent.

"_Vogliola, amico. Vogliola molto e adesso_." Blaise looked at Draco and saw the truthfulness and desire they expressed. It was rather funny, he spoke about her in front of her - even better!, looking at her - and she had no idea what he meant, even though his intense gaze made her think things.

"Oh-ka-y." She looked to the wall on her right side for a moment before turning back to them. "Let's?"

"Shouldn't you say _alons-y_?" Draco raised his eyebrows and smiled again.

At the club Hermione was surprised to see that it was decorated with taste and looked nothing like the tasteless flyer she received from Ron. She even double-checked the name of the club.

"Hey! Glad you made it!" Harry hugged her and shook hands with the Slytherins. It made Hermione's mouth drop a bit, but she recovered quickly and kissed her friend on the cheek. Ron didn't shake hands, but he did nod, so the with considered it as also a step forward.

"So..." She looked around noticing people around the group. "What kind of Whiskey we'll be drinking?"

It turned out to be a Muggle club. The music was cool, even though sometimes it was too loud, and _l'ambiance_ as Draco put it, was good.

Hermione danced with Draco and she danced with Blaise, there were songs they could all dance together, so they did. Her friends could see and feel there was something different about them and of course, Ginny was always jumping in excitement when she saw them. After a rather intimate moment with Blaise while Draco was there, next to her and holding her hand (fingers intertwined, mind you) Hermione felt the need for air and in the middle of her runaway she met Ron.

"You know, Hermione... about us, or should I say about what happened between us-" He looked agitate, but she cut him off quickly.

"Oh, Ron, I thought it was clear that we're better of as friends." She sighed deeply. "I'm sure you saw me with the boys and I'm not gonna lie, sure, there's something going on between us. I don't know what yet, but there's something. And yes, between Draco, Blaise and me." She had a pity expression for her friend.

"I was gonna say I'm sorry again for our fight..."

There was an awkward silence as they both stood staring at each other without expressions and Hermione broke the moment by turning away and leaving to the bar.

"Vodka tonica, please." The bartender quickly gave her the drink and when she was grabbing money he stopped her by saying:

"This one's on me. You look like you need it." This, obviously, didn't cheer her up and she drank the damn drink quickly and ordered another one, this time making sure she threw the money in the guy's direction. She was about to drink again when she felt a hand on her arm.

"Hey, her, what's going on?" Blaise was the owner of the hand.

The witch turned around and saw that Draco was also there. Perfect.

"What's going on between us?"

"What do you mean, _cara_?"

Draco was more "hands on" to answer her. Like, literally.

"What do you want, Hermione?" He put his hands on her hips and roughly pushed her closed, he lowered his head in a way that their lips were touching. "It's up to you. We want you, Hermione." He took a deep breath and pushed her gently away, keeping her at arms length, but he left his hands where they were. "But if you don't want us just say it."

Hermione pushed his hand away from her hips in an angry way and scowled.

"Of course I want you too. I only asked a question, you know?"

Draco and Blaise smiled at what she said and the Italian dropped his arm on her shoulders and kissed her cheek with a grin on his lips.

"Want to go home, _cara_?"

On their way to the exit she waved a goodbye to her friends.

"You know," Draco sneaked his arm around her waist. "You're finally getting better at scowling. Very Slytherin of you."

"You have no idea." She said quietly and laughed.

They went home the muggle way, after Hermione reassured the babies more than ten times that nothing would happen to them at 3 A.M. on a Saturday night. They grabbed a night bus and got to their destinations.

Funny thing, the moment the door closed behind them, Draco grabbed her waist and turned her to him, finally being able to kiss her.

Her knees began to buckle and she had to put her hand on his shoulders to steady herself. She felt Draco being pulled away from her and leaned against the closest wall, catching her breath with some difficulty. Before she had time to think, another set of lips crashed against her own, and she didn't need much to know they belonged to Blaise this time.

A single thought ran through her mind.

_"How on the Wizarding World am I gonna survive to them?"_

They talked and kissed more on the remaining of the night, getting to know each other better - well, Hermione got to know them better and vice-versa.

Draco and Blaise talked more about their "mateship" and as she listened she began to like them both more and more.

The first rays of sunshine were beginning to enter the window and she thought it was better to call it a night.

"I think I'm going to lie down." Of course, as she saw the looks they gave her and how they quickly got up after her she felt the need to add: "No shananigans." She turned away and began dragging herself to her bedroom, all the way listening to their whining voices.

"But we already slept together yesterday." Blaise said with a different tone of voice and Hermione could bet a few galleons that Draco was wiggling his eyebrows.

"Oh, you make it sound so dirty!" She looked over her shoulder and winked before entering her room.

The next morning... erh, afternoon didn't come quickly, luckily for them who needed to rest. The three of them slowly got up and soon enough they were at the kitchen, eating breakfast together on the counter.

"You know, I had a funny dream yesterday. I was working on the Ministry and then I grabbed some papers and went to some office. Guess who I found there." Hermione looked pointedly to Draco who instantly choked on his Froot Loops. "Oh yeah, I found you! And there was even some fancy tag on the door with your name on it. But that's not all. Guess who else I saw there, wearing what looked too much like a muggle suit and was visiting from Italy."

Blaise who was laughing at Draco while helping him instantly choked too - on his own saliva, Hermione feared.

She patted them both on the backs. "There, there."

"A job on the Ministry? Quickly visiting friends between business meetings? Are you kidding me? What's next?, becoming our parents?"

Hermione snickered at Draco's panicked voice and resumed eating as if she hadn't said a thing.

"So... about your parents." She said after finishing her cereal and while buttering a toast.

"What about them?"

"Well, are you going to say something to them... you know... about us?"

"Jeebus, woman! We didn't even take you on a date yet." Since Blaise's tone was sarcastic she didn't even answer.

"Oh! I know how we could approach our parent on the subject!" Draco turned all his attention to his best mate. "How about 'we figured a way to unite the families!'? Watcha think?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and laughed. "It just makes you two sound gay." She dismissed them easily.

"Okay. Then maybe we just won't tell them." Draco pouted and Hermione thought he looked adorable.

"Oh, come on. You'll need to tell them, they're your parents!"

Neither noticed that the boys parents had entered the house and obviously heard Hermione.

"Tell us what?" Gabriella's voice rang loud and clear.

Blaise and Draco exchanged quick glances and gulped. Hermione smirked. Very Slytherin of her.

* * *

><p><strong>Sort of glossary:<strong>

**¹** Coffee-sugar rush source: it's basically what I described in the story, a Caramel Macchiato Grande with lots of sugar and the same amount in vanilla and just a touch of cinnamon. It was the first coffee I tasted at Starbucks and always drank it when I had afternoon classes so that I would stay awake. After all, it's coffee and lots of sugar.

Happiness-on-a-cup: my second experience in Starbucks - a White Moccha Grande with Mint (when you order it hot it's a very comforting drink and when you order it cold make sure to wait a bit so that the ice can melt with the coffee, my tip is to eat/drink the cream first). If you feel adventurous I strongly suggest you order it with mind **and** hazelnut - it gets very good.

Childhood-on-a-cup: my third Starbucks experience - it's just the Frapuccinno Chocochip. You do not need to add sugar and if you order it Tall you will appreciate it more than the Grande (I don't even want to imagine buying a Venti); and well, it tastes like childhood because of the bit of chocolate (:

By the way, if you order the White Moccha Grande with only hazelnut then it's called "Christmas-on-a-cup"... much like a good Toffee Nut which is usually around for Christmas.

**²** The lovely Italian-American restaurant at Trafalgar Square that was packed with tourists: this place actually exists. It's called "Little Frankie's" it's a franchise from "Frankie & Benny's - New York Italian Restaurant & Bar". I went there when I went to London and I can say it's a very nice place to eat :)

**³** _Bella_ means beautiful.

_Très chic, chérie_ means very chic, darling.

_C'est vrai, mon ami_ mean it's true, my friend.

_Vogliola, amico. Vogliola molto e adesso_ means I want her, mate. I want her a lot and I want her now.

_Alons-y?_ means let's?.

_Cara_ means darling.


End file.
